About Us

About Hastoe Village Hall

Towards the end of the nineteenth century, Lady Emma Rothschild created, in the words of one author, ‘a mini welfare state’ around Tring, and Hastoe Village Hall is amongst the endowments she bestowed. Built on the site of John Batchelor’s Black Horse pub and brewery and William Wright’s mill, the Hall was opened in 1898 to serve as a community social and recreational centre in the midst of an estate bounded by Tring, Wigginton, Buckland Common and Cholesbury.

For decades, Hastoe Men’s Club flourished at the Hall, providing billiards, skittles and other games for local farm and mill workers, and a well-stocked lending library was provided for villagers’ edification. With the benefit of the Hall’s stage and ample space, concerts and pantomimes were regularly presented.

After the death of Lady Emma in 1935, most of the local Rothschild estate was sold at auction, but the Hall was retained with the intention of putting it in trust. The necessary legal work was overtaken by WW2 and it was not until 1964 that the status of the Hall was clarified by the execution of a trust deed. The Hastoe Village Hall Trust became a registered charity in September 2007.

In more recent years, the Hall served the community as the venue for such village celebrations as the 1977 Silver Jubilee and the 2000 Millennium. However, badminton had become the Hall’s predominant activity, the Hastoe Badminton Club having been founded in 1933, but sadly, the Club was dissolved in 2010.